A rough start

[RB240Mike]

So ya got the frame and well pretty much everyone that has seen it so far has started laughing when they see it. It's a pretty rough start but its a Margay at least. Bought it from some redneck off craigslist that had no idea what it even was really and towed his kid around the yard in it with his pickup truck haha. I paid $80 for the frame so I can't really complain. Pans are something 250cc, haven't decide on an exact motor yet but I like to move pretty quikly on my projects. Here it was when I brought it home (earlier tonight)

the rust was a little scary at first but I started sanding down the frame it it was all very minor surface rust, so far about half the frame has been sanded and stripped down to bare metal

I want to finish the entire rolling shell before I even get a motor, I'm pretty picky with my stuck and am a bit of a perfectionist so I don't wanna get it running then start driving it unfinished. I'm trying to decide on a color for the frame right now, probably just gonna spray it a color I already have laying around.. I have a pint left of BMW jet black I am considering using on it, but then again a nice tealish green would be cool.. IDK we'll see anyways I'll keep this updated as I go along

 

[dan]

thats pritty awesome for 80 bucks i would have it for that price its a good starting spot for you dont forget to keep us updated.

 

[RB240Mike]

Yea I'm pretty excited I've wanted to build a shifter kart since I was like 6 but my parents were cheap and would never splurge for something like a go-cart so now that I'm older and have my own house it's time to do it finally haha. It seems to be a pretty solid frame to start with I'm not really building it to compete with it or anything just go out and have fun.

 

[dan]

yer thats goin to be fun what kind of engine are you looking to place in it.

 

[RB240Mike]

Not quite sure yet to be honest was thinking some sort of dirt bike 250cc but hadn't narrowed it down but now I'm debating a street bike 600-750cc haha it's really prolly going to just depend on what I come across for a good deal, I have alot of friends with street bikes so I'm sure i could get a street bike motor pretty reasonible but I just think that that'd be to much and just be alot of wheel spin.

 

[dan]

wheel spin is heaps of fun, but realy if i was you and your got the budget of a street bike engine i would buy a 250 2 stroke i sware by them things thay would be one of the best engines in the world lol jokes. but realy if you were to buy a cr250 engine it would have plenty of power for just a fun kart and would still spin its wheels lol = more fun.

 

[RB240Mike]

haha well my other hobby is drifting so obviously I love wheel spin lol but I don't want toooooo much wheel spin. Yea this isn't really a budget budget build I have a few dollars to play around with on it. My best friend is into old school bikes like 80's CBR's and such and he is telling me I should put a Ninja 250 motor in it he swears by them thangs. So we'll see, it's kinda whatever pops up pops up, to me I paid so little for the frame I kinda can justify spending more money other places.

 

[dan]

haha yer ok cheak this out its a cr250 engine in a kart frame simmler to yours. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgTJviKMmC0
im thinking about doing this one day soon my uncle has a complete 01-02 kart frame with wheels, tank, axle, rear brakes you get the idea and he will let me take it of him for $200 so yer im going to do this one day lol. have fun

 

[RB240Mike]

holy crap I think ya that is more than enough screw 600cc haha

 

[dan]

ha lol yer looks like it would be deadly fun i use to race karts and this thing lol way more fun then what we use to race, my race kart was an arrow ax8 with a kt100j with cent. clutch and blue printed to the max and it went fairly good but not like that 250 lol and my engine had about 5000$ spent on it lol so i no were i would rather put my money. sorry i have no pics of my old kart but it was the same as this.

 

[RB240Mike]

that looks pretty **** bad ***

 

[dan]

ha lol yer it was a realy nice kart

 

[anderkart]

Hey cool kart Mike, you got a great deal there but I'm seeing some design features that give me the feeling its not a Margay. (are you finding it has mostly Metric or American nuts and bolts?) Theres lots of other race kart brands just as good or better but Margay's usualy have #'s stamped on the frame somewhere near the RF spindle. If you find any there, you can send the #'s and/or just your pics to Margay: http://www.margay.com/contact/contact.htm to confirm if its one of theirs or not. If it is, the frame #'s will help them confirm its exact year and model.

If you going with a motorcycle engine, I'd suggest trying to stay in the 250cc or under/single cylinder category. Seems like most of the larger sized race kart conversions I've seen end up being overkill and compromising handling.

edit: I'm thinking yours might be an Emmick, This is probably a diferent year/model but your steering column support looks a bit like this one: http://www.vintagepowersport.com/vka/html/forum.html

 

[RB240Mike]

A few stampings like this on it have led me to believe it's a Margay

 

[RB240Mike]

well frame is about 80% stripped of all paint and rust so far.. this is taking a long long time but it's gonna be worth it

 

[kazkepox]

Idk, it still might not be a margay... I mean you can never tell these days

 

[RB240Mike]

haha I guesssss

 

[kazkepox]

good going on the frame. I gotta get the rust off my axle eventually, I gotta take it all apart and get everything down, nice an purty

 

[kazkepox]

o and mike, Check out the central florida racing complex if you haven't already. they race karts, drag race, drift, just about anything. once my kart is done I will be bringing it up there for some racing. maybe me you and rickracer can meet up.

 

[RB240Mike]

yup thats what I'm doing I wanna get the frame perfect and replace every single bolt, nut, etc I'm gonna order a rebuild kit for the brake master, get new lines for it, order a new pedal set since I'm missing the gas pedal and then MAYBE I'll start looking for a motor